Sunny memories of Glover Garden

On my first day off from work I decided to visit Glover Garden, a beautiful park where the oldest Western-style house in Japan can be found. The house belonged to Thomas B. Glover, a Scottish merchant who contributed a great deal to the modernisation of Japan. As the house is built on Minamiyamate hillside it has the most stunning view of Nagasaki’s harbour – I therefore highly recommend visiting the park on a day when the sky is clear.

I left Casa Noda around 11 a.m. and walked towards the garden via the Dutch Slope. As the walk to the Glover Garden is uphill and the weather that day was very hot, I decided to enter the garden via the Glover Sky Road. The Glover Sky Road is a lift that can be found close to Ishibashi tram station. It will bring you to the top of the hill in front of one of Glover Garden’s entrances.

The first thing I saw when I entered the park was a large pond, where small children were feeding a group of colourful koi-fish. As I slowly walked down the garden I couldn’t help but stop to take lots of photos of the view. Inside the park you can find lots of beautiful plants, flowers and observation spots overlooking the harbour. You are allowed to enter most of the rooms inside the houses which are furnished with vintage furniture that suit the era the houses were built in.

Around lunch-time I went inside the tea house to enjoy a refreshing cup of coffee. If you would like to sit outside there is a terrace in front of the tea house where you can buy some refreshments if needed.

Glover house is the most unique building of all, but it compliments the area very well and gives the scenery as a whole a lovely, romantic atmosphere.

How to get to Glover Garden from Casa Noda:

-If you want to take the tram you can take Line 1 from Goto-machi to Tsukimachi, transfer to line 5 and exit at either Ouratenshudo-shita or Ishibashi station. From there you can either walk or take the Glover Sky Road up to the park.

-Walking from Casa Noda will take about 40 minutes.

The entrance fee is ¥610, but you will only have to pay ¥510 if you use the discount card provided by Casa Noda at your check-in.